A lifelong Little Village resident, Ald. Michael Rodriguez (22) jumped into the Chicago political scene through his work with community organizations like local nonprofit Enlace Chicago, where he served as executive director. In 2012, former President Barack Obama named Rodriguez one of 12 ‘Champions of Change’ in Youth Violence Prevention for his work with the nonprofit. Beyond his work in the nonprofit sphere, Rodriguez also worked as the executive officer at the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office, where he oversaw legislation, budget and human resources.

He’s built his campaign around standing up for working families and protecting the environment. After Hilco Redevelopment Partners’ botched demolition of the Crawford Coal Plant in April 2020, Rodriguez proposed an ordinance that would prevent so-called “bad actors” and developers whose projects have negative impacts on citizens’ health from collecting property tax incentives. The City Council passed the measure unanimously.

Rodriguez has since passed a measure calling on Mayor Lori Lightfoot to release the full watchdog report on the botched 2020 demolition. The measure is non-binding, but he has spearheaded the calls for Lightfoot’s administration to release the full findings.

Neftalie Gonzalez is a former Chicago Police officer who in 2017 founded the nonprofit “Opportunity-Oportunidad,” which is focused on mentorship and employment placement assistance. Gonzalez is also the owner of the Mundo Musical event venue, according to a candidate questionnaire published by WTTW during his 2019 run for the 22nd Ward.

Little Village Community Council youth organizer Kristian Armendariz has previously worked as a civil engineer for Habitat for Humanity Chicago. He is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in construction management. Armendariz helped start a group called Mothers & Families United For Justice, which supports people who have lost loved ones to gun violence, according to his campaign website.

Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20) was first elected in 2019, defeating eight other candidates to fill the 20th Ward City Council seat that had been vacant since former Ald. Willie Cochran resigned amid bribery and extortion charges. Taylor’s 2019 campaign centered on commitments to fight gentrification caused by the University of Chicago and the Obama Presidential Center and a promise to fight for an elected school board.

Taylor brought with her vast organizing experience as she had been involved in community organizing since she was 19 years old, first as a member of Mollison Elementary’s Local School Council. Taylor later organized with People United for Action and the United Working Families Party and participated in the 2015 Dyett High School Hunger Strike.

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25) was first elected to the City Council in 2019. Originally from Ecuador, Sigcho-Lopez attended college in Tennessee before moving to Chicago. Sigcho-Lopez has experience as a community organizer and has continued to attend protests even while on the council. He is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and has been the executive director of the Pilsen Alliance. While on the City Council, he helped found the Democratic Socialist Caucus.

Andre Vasquez Jr. was a political novice prior to the 2016 elections, when he began organizing for Bernie Sanders after meeting him at a campaign event. He canvassed for Sanders and went on to become the chair of the Reclaim Chicago North Chapter, where he campaigned and held community events for both Daniel Biss and state Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago).

Prior to serving on the City Council, Vasquez was a battle rapper and worked as an AT&T statewide area manager. In the 2019 election, he challenged former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s floor leader and longtime incumbent Patrick O’Connor. Vasquez campaigned on overhauling the practice of aldermanic prerogative and democratizing the development process. “[A]ldermen need to stop looking at their wards like fiefdoms,” Vasquez said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.

Attorney Christian Blume is a Lincoln Square resident who attended law school at University of Illinois-Chicago. While in law school, Blume was in the Environmental Law Society and was managing editor of The John Marshall Law Review. Blume said he has provided pro-bono legal services to people dealing with mortgage foreclosures through Chicago Volunteer Legal Services and helped first responders through the Chicago Bar Association Wills for Heroes program. Though a private practice lawyer now, Blume was previously an assistant corporation counsel for the City of Chicago.

Elected: 2015

An active leader in the Chicago Latino community, Gilbert Villegas grew up on the North Side of Chicago and served in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. He was honorably discharged after four years of service in the military and went on to work for the Illinois Capital Development Board, the state government’s construction management agency.

He then helped manage the campaign of Cook County Comm. Stanley Moore (D-4) while working for the Illinois Department of Transportation, and later lobbied for the Hispanic American Construction Industry Association. After incumbent Ald. Nicholas Sposato was redistricted out of his post into the 38th ward, Villegas tossed his hat in the ring. Villegas ran his first campaign for alderman on uplifting minority and low-income communities through business development and progressive tax policies.

Villegas won his 2019 re-election unopposed. He maintained his focus on economic and workforce development throughout his first and second term as the 36th ward’s alderman, in which he particularly emphasized expanding opportunities for minorities and veterans.

He’s been a sporadic critic of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, particularly when Lightfoot did not support the early plans for a universal basic income.

Lori Torres has served as a member of Chicago Teachers Union Executive Board and has 23 years of teaching experience with Chicago Public Schools, according to her website. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Torres has appeared in news coverage promoting  vaccine access for teachers before returning to the classroom and advocated for the ability to continue remote work. Torres has the CTU’s backing in the 36^th Ward race, as well as endorsements from United Working Families, Cook County College Teachers Union and Grassroots Illinois Action. She has also secured endorsements from U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill) state Sen. Omar Aquino (D-Chicago) and state Sen. Cristina Pacione-Zayas (D-Chicago).

David Herrera is a developer and former 26^th Ward aldermanic candidate now competing in the recently remapped 36^th Ward. Herrera challenged Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26) in 2019 but was unsuccessful, coming in third behind Theresa Siaw and the 26^th Ward alderman. Herrera has been involved with notable developments, such as a co-living startup apartment building in Ukrainian Village and a proposed Latin concert hall and supper club in Humboldt Park which has failed to come to fruition, according to Block Club Chicago.

Ald. Stephanie Coleman (16) is seeking a second term after unseating progressive Ald. Toni Foulkes in 2019, her second run for the post after she lost to Foulkes in the 2015 municipal runoffs. Coleman, a former aide to Cook County Comm. Dennis Deer (D-2), is the daughter of former 16^th Ward Ald. Shirley Coleman. The younger Coleman made a name for herself politically by chartering the ward’s Young Democrats and registering over 1,200 new voters as 16th Ward Democratic Committeeperson, a post she’s held since 2016. On City Council Coleman was chosen in 2020 to chair the Committee on Health and Human Relations’ Subcommittee on Reparations by Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6), who’s currently seeking the mayorship.

Carolynn Crump has served as a Chicago Police officer for 24 years and is the third in her family to serve in law enforcement, according to Block Club Chicago. Crump ran in the Democratic primary for the Illinois House of Representatives District 6 in 2022 but lost to incumbent Rep. Sonya Harper (D-Chicago). Crump earned a master’s degrees in business management and fraud and examination management at Saint Xavier University, according to her campaign website.

Eddie Johnson III is an Englewood community organizer seeking the 16^th Ward aldermanic seat following an unsuccessful run in 2019. Johnson is the executive director of the Antioch Community Social Service Agency, the nonprofit division of Antioch Missionary Baptist, an Englewood church destroyed by a fire in April 2022. In 2019, Johnson told the Sun-Times he had been involved in organizing against the closure of four Englewood high schools and served on the Chicago Public Schools steering committee for the then-new Englewood STEM High School.

Ald. Jason Ervin (28) began his political career as the village manager of Maywood, where he worked with many of his predecessor and mentor Ed Smith’s allies. Smith was the longest serving Black official in Cook County and had held the alderman’s office for 27 years. Ervin was appointed to the City Council when Smith unexpectedly resigned from his seat in 2011. He won the 2015 election unopposed and handily avoided a runoff with 62 percent of the vote in 2019.

Shortly after his victory, Ervin was elected to chair the Aldermanic Black Caucus. He used his newly gained power to advocate for communities of color when he threatened to derail new zoning rules for weed dispensaries in 2019 unless the city created new measures to bring in more BIPOC cannabis entrepreneurs.

Though the measure eventually failed, Ervin continued his mission to ensure equitable representation for Chicago’s majority-Black wards. When the new ward remap plan was in the works, Ervin became a vocal opponent of any map that would reduce the number of majority Black wards. Ervin has been a relatively strong supporter of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, as he offered an early endorsement of her reelection last September. After Ald. Carrie Austin (34) resigned from her chairmanship of the Committee on Contracting Oversight and Equity, Lightfoot hauled Ervin forward as her replacement.

A former corridor manager for the Austin African American Business Networking Association, a job in which he helped manage urban and commercial planning and development in the Soul City Business Corridor. Dooley is a member of the Chicago Youth Council for Police Accountability and chairs the domestic violence committee for the Chicago Police Department’s 15th District community outreach. Dooley earned a political science degree from Concordia University Chicago and received master’s degrees in architecture and in social justice and human rights from Arizona State University.

CB Johnson is the CEO of Campaign For a Drug Free Westside and previously ran for alderman in 2011 in the 29th Ward.

A marine veteran and former Chicago Police sergeant for over two decades, Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29) worked in the legal world before entering the Chicago political sphere. He served as a litigation attorney and one of the founding partners at Taliaferro Law Group, P.C, before jumping into the 2015 race for alderman.

Though incumbent Ald. Deborah Graham had strong support from Ald. Jason Ervin (28) and then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his Chicago Forward PAC, Taliaferro narrowly defeated Graham with just a 511-vote lead. He has become Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s top ally on police issues after Lightfoot picked him to chair the Committee on Public Safety and ousted then-chair Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30).

Taliaferro has publicly supported Lightfoot and helped push her community police oversight plan to the finish line, even as some called it “window dressing.” He was one of a handful of aldermen to stand beside Lightfoot when she announced her bid for reelection but addressed some of her missteps during her first term. “I would really love to see some better approaches toward violence reduction. And that calls for better plans from our superintendent,” Taliaferro said.

He made an unsuccessful run for judge in the 11th subcircuit and was defeated by attorney Aileen Bhandari, despite leading in fundraising and party official endorsements.

Arkansas-native Ald. Emma Mitts (37) has served on the City Council since 2000, when she was appointed to her seat by Mayor Richard M. Daley after then-Ald. Percy Giles was convicted of pocketing $10,000 in cash bribes from a government mole and extorting an additional $81,200 from a company operating an illegal dump in his ward.

Mitts was a Daley ally, as well as of former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Mayor Lori Lightfoot. One of Mitts’ more notable achievements on the council was fighting for the passage of a zoning change which allowed Walmart to open up its first Chicago store in Austin in 2006.

Mitts currently chairs the City Council Committee on License and Consumer Protection.